Teenagers through the ages
1960s: Katie and Holly
- "swinging 60s"
- cultural revolution
- movements: Civil rights - MLK, Cuban missile crisis, JFK assassination, hippie movement san fran
British teenagers:
- parents= WW2
- more free time and money - portable radios led to music demand
- No more forced national service
- Money for records and culture
- TV Programmes and magazines aimed at teens
music
- New styles of music
- biggest bands: Beatles, Lulu, Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Who
- American artists: Jimi Hendrix
Film
- More money to spend on cinema
- James Bond, Carry on Cleo
- Quadrophenia - Mods and rockers
TV
- Dr Who, Corrie, MOTD, Blue Peter, Thunderbirds
- American: Star Trek, Beverly Hillbillies, The Avengers
Mass Media Expansion
- 10 mill TVs in use - watched in evening
- TVs = 23% of leisure time
- BBC 2 1964
- Youths had radios - listened to pop music & to 1964 pirate stations -> led to R1
Adverts
Fads
- Mini skirt - peaked at 1967 = rebellion
- Go-Go boots - Nancy Sinatra
- troll dolls
- turtle necks
- slot cars - electric racing car toys
- Lava lamps
- tie dye tops
Family life
- less disipline
- family life less important
- ate dinner together and watched tv in evening
Slang
- Gimmie some skin
- Unplugged
- Bread
- Ditz
Subculture
- Mods - modern jazz
- Rockers - rock and roll - Quadrophenia
Concerns
- Only communication by phone
- racism and homophobia - seen as mental illness
- only married women allowed pill
1970s: Charlotte and Harry
Context
- Beatles break up
- Change to pound sterling
- Northern Ireland troubles
- Enter the EU
- Mobile phones invented
- IMF loan
- Elvis dead
- Test tube baby born
- Margaret Thatcher
Music
- Bowie
- Michael Jackson
- Pink Floyd
- ABBA
- Marvin Gaye
Films
- Star Wars
- Grease
- King Kong
- Superman
- Jaws
TV
- Dad's army
- The good life
- faulty towers
- only 3 channels
Mainstream
- Boho spirit
- leaps in social equality and eco
- roller skating
- casual fashion
- disco music by african americans and LGBT
- women in jobs
- Women empowerment
Adverts
- AVON
- different races emerging in advertisement
- road safety
Teen influences
- Diane Von Frustenberg - wrap dress for every body type
- Joni Mitchell - hippie
- Farrah Fawcett - must have celebrity hair style
- Bianca Jagger - suit at her wedding
Slang
- psyche
- boogie
Subcultures
- Black power movement, black is beautiful campaign
- LGBTQ
- feminism
- hippies
- heavy metal, punk rock
1980s: Phoebe and Leah
Context
- Margaret thatcher
- Lennon assassination
- Charles and Diana wedding
- MTV
- CDs developed
- Cocaine developed
- Laptops commercial use
- World wide web developed
Music
- Post punk
- Used new tech
- Heavy metal
- rock and pop
- beginning of hip hop
- Madonna
- MJ
- Prince
Films
- Annie
- Indiana Jones
- Risky Business
- Terminator
- Breakfast Club
- Back to Future
- Dirty Dancing
TV shows
- Eastenders
- Only Fools and Horses
- Blue Peter
Fads
- Leg warmers
- big hair
- mood rings
- Rubix cubes
Role models
- Madonna - carefree, powerful
Subcultures
- New Romanticism - nightclubs, supported by bands and artists, reaction to punk. Gender identities - wore sexual clothing - wanted to look striking and unusual
- Goths - spin off of punks -music = the cure, black fashion
- increase in working mothers
- more divorce
- scouts, cubs, brownies
- TV was main entertainment
1990s: sam and Lucy
Music
- Brit pop, Techno, indie-rock,
- Oasis, Blur, Spice Girls, Prodigy
- rave culture
Film
- comedy, drama, cultural diversity
- trainspotting, pulp fiction, fight club
TV
- Comedy: Abfab, have i got news for you
fashion
- buffalo shoes, windbreakers, skirts over jeans, frosted tips, slip dresses
Fads
- scooby doos
- tamagotchi
- beanie babies
Adverts
- Budweiser - wassup
Role Models
- Spice girls- girl power
- Naomi Campbell
- Oasis, Nirvana- grunge
World events
- Nelson mandela free
- OJ Simpson
- Cloned sheep
- Clinton impeached
- school shootings
slang:
- Bomb
- whatever
- talk to the hand
Introduction to Collective Identity
Teenage Riot, Youth, Culture and Collective Identity
Who am I?
Who am I?
- what makes me different? what makes me similar?
- what social group am I a part of?
- What are these groups's collective identity?
influence of the media:
How it affects us.
Any accurate representations?
Inaccurate or distorted portrayals?
Identification/ aspiration:
Teenagers in media who we identify with?
Audience interpretation:
Hall's encoding/ decoding
Dominant message of teens?
Negotiated interpretations? From adults/ teens?
Oppositional interpretations?
Henry Jenkins
Whats teen made from?
youth culture
emerged in 50s - different sub cultures
obvious economic potential - new market to fuel US boom
first negative stereotypes
Young men returning with PTSD
"white picket fence america" - perfect American families
1950s:
tv,
adverts,
current fads, role models, teen influences
ARTICLE to use for case study
Hoodies to goodies - guardian, 2014
Collective Identity
Media and Collective Identity
Choose a question
two groups we study:
Use 3 different types of media (internet, TV, YouTube, Newspapers, social media)
Media must be from last 5 years
Freedom in own thoughts and analysis
20 marks from explanation, argument, analyis
20 marks for examples
10 makes for theory/ terminology.
first part: Historical representations: Birth of teen in 50s -> modern day
Main bulk: last five year representations
Last part: reflection on future of teenagers's representation
Positive representations:
Representation: The way reality is mediated to us
Theorists:
Snow: CD =a sense of "one-ness"
Poletta and Jasper = may be imagined, not experienced directly. CD created by outsider's generalisations
Identity = construction, not a reflection of identity.
How are youths represented in media? is it accurate?
Consider the dominant negative media representations
Youths creating own subculture/ CD with own values and codes. Create some of most influential artistic movements.
Create mood board of self. How different are we to family? to colleagues? to friends?
Belong to dominant culture or subculture?
Choose a question
two groups we study:
- British in media
- Youth (13-24 y/o)
Use 3 different types of media (internet, TV, YouTube, Newspapers, social media)
Media must be from last 5 years
Freedom in own thoughts and analysis
20 marks from explanation, argument, analyis
20 marks for examples
10 makes for theory/ terminology.
first part: Historical representations: Birth of teen in 50s -> modern day
Main bulk: last five year representations
Last part: reflection on future of teenagers's representation
Positive representations:
- Educating Yorkshire - stutter
- BGT
- X Factor
- Voice Kids
- Olympians, Tom Daley
- University Challenge
- Charity Shows - kids/ high schools donating money
Representation: The way reality is mediated to us
Theorists:
Snow: CD =a sense of "one-ness"
Poletta and Jasper = may be imagined, not experienced directly. CD created by outsider's generalisations
Identity = construction, not a reflection of identity.
How are youths represented in media? is it accurate?
Consider the dominant negative media representations
Youths creating own subculture/ CD with own values and codes. Create some of most influential artistic movements.
Create mood board of self. How different are we to family? to colleagues? to friends?
Belong to dominant culture or subculture?
1B Media Language Essay
Media language is the way which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience. The production which will be analysed in this essay is the music video which we created for A2. This production was focused on one female artist, who we named Nova. The genre was pop/ R&B, therefore we made the music video colourful and focused on Nova and her dancing – the video was a performance video which did not have a narrative.
Media language was presented through this music video product in multiple assorted manners with the use of mise en scene, camera, sound, and editing.
The use of mise en scene in our production allowed us to create media language and meaning to convey to the audience. We used and conformed to Bathes theory of semiotics and structuralism towards an active audience. An active audience is one which creates the meaning of the text themselves, instead of other theories's views of the producer creating the meaning. The semiotics which we used regarding mise en scene were the props and costumes used within the video. The costumes were all coherent with the setting and surrounding props - for example, a red dress in a purple and red lit room. This coherence between the strong colours within the mise en scene created media language of the protagonist (Nova) being a strong female character. This fits with Barthes theory as there is no clear message, it leaves the active audience with the choice to decide the meaning of the scene.
The use of shots and camera work in our production allowed us to portray Nova as a strong female once more. By using a multitude of shots including low shots, sometimes from a worms eye view, it made Nova appear larger than the audience and than her surroundings. This enhanced size effect allowed Nova to appear empowered and confident, which was the message which we wanted to express to the audience through media language. Close up shots which also achieved a fish eye effect were used throughout the music video. One example of this was the establishing close up shot of Nova's mouth whilst lip syncing to the lyrics. This made Nova appear confident as it made her mouth fill the screen where the audience could see the serious expression of her mouth, where she did not coyly smile or laugh. Lastly, another shot which we used in order to make Nova appear a strong female was the 360 degrees shot which circled around her as the focal point. Creating Nova as the focal point allowed her to seem strong and at high significance, compared to her surroundings of an an outdoor street.
With the editing process for the music video, we created the same notion of Nova being of heightened significance. By using the zoom tool to make Nova fill the frame with less background, we achieved the look of Nova being confident and highly significant. A further effect that we used was warp stabiliser. This transformed shaky camera work into smooth footage. This made the whole video seem more confident, with Nova being the centrepiece of this confidence. Furthermore, around 90% of the shots were of Nova herself, with a small use of filler shots which were of other items and scenery. This similarly allowed the audience to recognise Nova's confidence, conforming to Barthe's theory of the active audience.
The use of sound was entirely the song. The song which we chose for the music video was the artist NAO's single named Nostalgia. This song is sang by an independent female artist which exemplifies the notion of female independence and confidence. One sound effect which we used was a fade out at the end of the song, due to cutting it short. This fade effect was conveying the media language of the end to the story and the end to the song. This ending with the fade created a message of finality and strength in the story, which is showing the female empowerment like the rest of the video.
In conclusion, media language within the media production of our music video was at high importance when it came to expressing representations and messages within the video. The use of different camera shots, sound effects, editing techniques, and mise en scene in costumes and props allowed us to proficiently create the desired message of female empowerment.
Media language was presented through this music video product in multiple assorted manners with the use of mise en scene, camera, sound, and editing.
The use of mise en scene in our production allowed us to create media language and meaning to convey to the audience. We used and conformed to Bathes theory of semiotics and structuralism towards an active audience. An active audience is one which creates the meaning of the text themselves, instead of other theories's views of the producer creating the meaning. The semiotics which we used regarding mise en scene were the props and costumes used within the video. The costumes were all coherent with the setting and surrounding props - for example, a red dress in a purple and red lit room. This coherence between the strong colours within the mise en scene created media language of the protagonist (Nova) being a strong female character. This fits with Barthes theory as there is no clear message, it leaves the active audience with the choice to decide the meaning of the scene.
The use of shots and camera work in our production allowed us to portray Nova as a strong female once more. By using a multitude of shots including low shots, sometimes from a worms eye view, it made Nova appear larger than the audience and than her surroundings. This enhanced size effect allowed Nova to appear empowered and confident, which was the message which we wanted to express to the audience through media language. Close up shots which also achieved a fish eye effect were used throughout the music video. One example of this was the establishing close up shot of Nova's mouth whilst lip syncing to the lyrics. This made Nova appear confident as it made her mouth fill the screen where the audience could see the serious expression of her mouth, where she did not coyly smile or laugh. Lastly, another shot which we used in order to make Nova appear a strong female was the 360 degrees shot which circled around her as the focal point. Creating Nova as the focal point allowed her to seem strong and at high significance, compared to her surroundings of an an outdoor street.
With the editing process for the music video, we created the same notion of Nova being of heightened significance. By using the zoom tool to make Nova fill the frame with less background, we achieved the look of Nova being confident and highly significant. A further effect that we used was warp stabiliser. This transformed shaky camera work into smooth footage. This made the whole video seem more confident, with Nova being the centrepiece of this confidence. Furthermore, around 90% of the shots were of Nova herself, with a small use of filler shots which were of other items and scenery. This similarly allowed the audience to recognise Nova's confidence, conforming to Barthe's theory of the active audience.
The use of sound was entirely the song. The song which we chose for the music video was the artist NAO's single named Nostalgia. This song is sang by an independent female artist which exemplifies the notion of female independence and confidence. One sound effect which we used was a fade out at the end of the song, due to cutting it short. This fade effect was conveying the media language of the end to the story and the end to the song. This ending with the fade created a message of finality and strength in the story, which is showing the female empowerment like the rest of the video.
In conclusion, media language within the media production of our music video was at high importance when it came to expressing representations and messages within the video. The use of different camera shots, sound effects, editing techniques, and mise en scene in costumes and props allowed us to proficiently create the desired message of female empowerment.
Media Language plan 1B
Apply concept of media language to music vid
"media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience.
Music video"
Mise en scen - many costumes
Camera
Sound
Editing
Video, website, digipak
Include theorists:
Barthes: explored the way that texts make meaning. Focus on linguistics and considered all cultural forms (including media) are made up from system of signs.
Studied two interrelated theories:
Did it fit the genre?
Analyse, do not describe.
Discuss how we created the meaning for the audience.
Begin each paragraph with theorist then link to MV.
Intro: explain MV - what about? where music from? Compare to other examples to show how followed/ challenged conventions.
And what is media language
main bulk: include 4 key areas:
"media language is the way in which the meaning of a media text is conveyed to the audience.
Music video"
Mise en scen - many costumes
Camera
Sound
Editing
Video, website, digipak
Include theorists:
Barthes: explored the way that texts make meaning. Focus on linguistics and considered all cultural forms (including media) are made up from system of signs.
Studied two interrelated theories:
- Semiotics: study of individual signs
- Structuralism: study of relationships between those signs
The organisation of relationships encodes particular ideologies.
Active Audience - texts open to many possible interpretations from many perspectives. To consider perspectives, he looked at the semiotics and how they fit together (structuralism).
The audience creates the meaning of a finished text.
Myth and ideology: represented in media through semiotics and structuralism create a view of the world which may mask reality
Did it fit the genre?
Analyse, do not describe.
Discuss how we created the meaning for the audience.
Begin each paragraph with theorist then link to MV.
Intro: explain MV - what about? where music from? Compare to other examples to show how followed/ challenged conventions.
And what is media language
main bulk: include 4 key areas:
- Camera - shot size, framing, angles, pans, zooms
- Sound - diegetic, non-diegetic, sound effects, music
- editing - fades, cuts, dissolves
- Mise-en-scen - costume, lighting, location, body language, acting, makeup
Conclusion:
how well did we use media language to communicate meaning to an audience.
1B Representation Essay
Representation is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular manner. In this essay I will be analysing my film opening, which includes the representation of age, gender and class.
In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
The research of which we conducted in class of representation was majoritevly looking at other teen drama genre films, such as Perks of Being a Wallflower, and analysing their representations of age and gender, in order to incorporate these representations into our own film opening.
In Untamed, our main representation was of gender, and age of mature adults and teenagers. As we only used two characters in our film opening, there was a large emphasis on their age due to the age gap between them both. Here, we conformed to Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites with the opposites between the mother, Carol, and the daughter, Aubrey. Carol was a mother who was at home alone and sober, sitting in a dressing gown and reading, whilst Aubrey arrives home from being with friends, drunk and dressed ruggedly with messy hair and makeup (intentional mise en scen). The opposites here highlight the representation of age which we presented. We conformed to the stereotype of teenagers being reckless drug takers, whilst mature adults being strict, bad tempered, and boring.
The use of camera shots emphasised Carol's dominance over her daughter, Aubrey. We used many low shots whilst filming Carol in order to make her seem larger and of heightened importance, whilst using higher shots when filming Aubrey. For example, we filmed Aubrey from the top of a stair case in order to make her smaller than the audience and look confused and insignificant.
We then used the camera to emphasise Aubrey's drunken recklessness which conforms to another stereotype of teenagers. To do this, we used the camera with a purposefully shaky hand and using black out cuts between quick shots in the editing process.
Angela McRobbie is a second theorist that we researched and used in the process of our film opening production. McRobbie focuses on gender roles in the media, and states that the media tells us how to behave and that we follow this. McRobbie's theory argues that men are presented as masculine, and powerful, whilst women are comparatively weak, submissive with low ranking jobs, such as a stay at home mother like Carol in our film opening. Therefore, we conform to McRobbie's theory with the character of Carol, due to her staying at home by herself lounging in a dressing gown, which is not a symbol of power.
However, we subverted to McRobbie's theory by making Aubrey independent and aggressive despite her age and gender.
The final theorist that we used was Mulvey and her theory of male gaze, which declares that men view women for pleasure, and refer to women as objects. We subverted to this theory, shown by both of the characters being dressed non-provocatively and not making any provocative claims or actions. Both of our women in the film opening showed their intellect as more significant than their bodies/ appearance by arguing passionately for their thoughts on the same subject of Aubrey's newfound independence.
In conclusion, the theorists of representation and the research around this topic allowed us to use the useful information in our own film opening. Therefore we leaned a considerable amount about representation and how to use this construct in our own production.
In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
The research of which we conducted in class of representation was majoritevly looking at other teen drama genre films, such as Perks of Being a Wallflower, and analysing their representations of age and gender, in order to incorporate these representations into our own film opening.
In Untamed, our main representation was of gender, and age of mature adults and teenagers. As we only used two characters in our film opening, there was a large emphasis on their age due to the age gap between them both. Here, we conformed to Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites with the opposites between the mother, Carol, and the daughter, Aubrey. Carol was a mother who was at home alone and sober, sitting in a dressing gown and reading, whilst Aubrey arrives home from being with friends, drunk and dressed ruggedly with messy hair and makeup (intentional mise en scen). The opposites here highlight the representation of age which we presented. We conformed to the stereotype of teenagers being reckless drug takers, whilst mature adults being strict, bad tempered, and boring.
The use of camera shots emphasised Carol's dominance over her daughter, Aubrey. We used many low shots whilst filming Carol in order to make her seem larger and of heightened importance, whilst using higher shots when filming Aubrey. For example, we filmed Aubrey from the top of a stair case in order to make her smaller than the audience and look confused and insignificant.
We then used the camera to emphasise Aubrey's drunken recklessness which conforms to another stereotype of teenagers. To do this, we used the camera with a purposefully shaky hand and using black out cuts between quick shots in the editing process.
Angela McRobbie is a second theorist that we researched and used in the process of our film opening production. McRobbie focuses on gender roles in the media, and states that the media tells us how to behave and that we follow this. McRobbie's theory argues that men are presented as masculine, and powerful, whilst women are comparatively weak, submissive with low ranking jobs, such as a stay at home mother like Carol in our film opening. Therefore, we conform to McRobbie's theory with the character of Carol, due to her staying at home by herself lounging in a dressing gown, which is not a symbol of power.
However, we subverted to McRobbie's theory by making Aubrey independent and aggressive despite her age and gender.
The final theorist that we used was Mulvey and her theory of male gaze, which declares that men view women for pleasure, and refer to women as objects. We subverted to this theory, shown by both of the characters being dressed non-provocatively and not making any provocative claims or actions. Both of our women in the film opening showed their intellect as more significant than their bodies/ appearance by arguing passionately for their thoughts on the same subject of Aubrey's newfound independence.
In conclusion, the theorists of representation and the research around this topic allowed us to use the useful information in our own film opening. Therefore we leaned a considerable amount about representation and how to use this construct in our own production.
1B Representation Plan
Representation
Main questions:
how are groups represented in your production?
Gender, ethnicity, sexuality.
Age, class, regional identity, disability, good vs evil.
Talk about main characters and locations - how they represent these groups.
Use examples of shots and write the effect they have on audience. Camera, mise en scen.
Did we convert/ conform to the stereotypes?
Levi Strauss: Binary opposition helping climax of narrative & works with our basis of understanding of the story. carol and aubrey.
Laura Mulvey: Feminism, male gaze : men observing women for pleasure (voyerisum). Referring to women as objects, women displaying themselves how they should be perceived.
Angela McRobbie: gender roles, media socialises us into gender roless- humans behave how they do due to how media tells them to.
Men = masculine, aggressive, powerful.
Women = weak, submissive, stay at home, mother, nurse.
stereotype of carol being at home being in charge of teen daughter.
did we challenge any theorists?
Representation definition:
the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular manner. In this essay I will be analysing my film opening, which includes the representation of age, gender and class.
Research in class - looking at other film openings, analysing representations. EG Perks of BAW allowed us to look at youth reps in other teen dramas.
Rep in Untamed is age.
Main questions:
how are groups represented in your production?
Gender, ethnicity, sexuality.
Age, class, regional identity, disability, good vs evil.
Talk about main characters and locations - how they represent these groups.
Use examples of shots and write the effect they have on audience. Camera, mise en scen.
Did we convert/ conform to the stereotypes?
Levi Strauss: Binary opposition helping climax of narrative & works with our basis of understanding of the story. carol and aubrey.
Laura Mulvey: Feminism, male gaze : men observing women for pleasure (voyerisum). Referring to women as objects, women displaying themselves how they should be perceived.
Angela McRobbie: gender roles, media socialises us into gender roless- humans behave how they do due to how media tells them to.
Men = masculine, aggressive, powerful.
Women = weak, submissive, stay at home, mother, nurse.
stereotype of carol being at home being in charge of teen daughter.
did we challenge any theorists?
Representation definition:
the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular manner. In this essay I will be analysing my film opening, which includes the representation of age, gender and class.
Research in class - looking at other film openings, analysing representations. EG Perks of BAW allowed us to look at youth reps in other teen dramas.
Rep in Untamed is age.
1B Narrative Essay
Apply the concept of narrative to one of your productions.
Narrative is defined by the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non fictional texts. Todorov described narrative as always having a disruption throughout: "disruption is always figured literally- as physical force." In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
Todorov's theory of narrative focuses on equilibrium, where when the narrative is negatively disrupted, it is a disequilibrium, which is ultimately restored by the end of the narrative - although the restored equilibrium is not the same as the original.
For our film opening, we decided to challenge Todorov's narrative theory in Untamed by making the disequilibrium take place at the beginning, instead of the positive equilibrium, as described by Todorov. We disregarded Todorov's theory in order to create a message of family conflict.
Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites, which are reflected by a culture, is another narrative theorist which we applied to Untamed throughout the narrative. Within the narrative of untamed, we used a multitude of binary opposites. Some which we used were: youth and maturity, drunken and sobriety, mother and daughter, and the use of indoor and outdoor settings. After studying Strauss’s theory of binary opposites in the research stages prior to creating our film opening, we found this theory to be very effective for a film opening in order to create a gripping and interesting narrative. Therefore, we created these binary opposites deliberately to create meaning and a message in our narrative. The opposite of the conflicting relationship between the mature mother, Carol, and the unruly teenager, Aubrey was to create a message of disconnect within a family system and to create empathy from the audience for Aubrey not being understood by her mother or family.
Furthermore, we studied Propp’s theory of Stock characters, which we decided to not use in our film opening, Untamed. We subverted from Propp by creating characters which are not usually seen within mainstream, broadcasted films and productions. We purposefully made Aubrey a non-stereotypical female character. A stereotypical female teenage character would be portrayed as feminine and proper, as well as submissive and one who does not stand up for themselves due to being the female gender. We subverted from this stereotype by making Aubrey a female “baddie” who would typically be portrayed by a more masculine figure. Aubrey was not feminine, exemplified by her drunkenness, rugged clothing and outspoken nature. We additionally made Carol’s character subvert from Propp’s theory. A mature female who is also a mother is portrayed by films as caring and sometimes submissive to the youth/ their children. We decided to make Carol a female authority figure instead of the usual stereotypes. This was exemplified by Carol confronting her daughter harshly and being clear of her discontent of her daughter, Aubrey, going against her.
We decided to create these characters through subverting Propps stock character theory in order to create a highly interesting narrative.
Linking to the last point, to create an interesting narrative we used Barthes theory of Enigma Coding. Enigma coding creates a sense of mystery from the audience, and inspires their questions of ‘what happens next?’ – thus, making the narrative more gripping. Some enquiries from our film opening of Untamed are why is Aubrey drunk? Why does Carol not understand and accept her daughter? Why is Aubrey running away and where to? Why does Carol not stop her daughter from running away?
We deliberately left the film opening on a cliff hanger by using Barthes Enigma Coding in order to make the narrative interesting – and as it is a film opening, to make the audience have a desire to continue watching.
In conclusion, from our research of the main theories of narrative, we concluded that some were more useful for our film opening than others. The least applicable was Propp’s stock characters theory, whereas the most applicable to our film opening was Levi Strauss’s theory of Binary Opposites. We challenged some theories and embraced others by using them contently within our film opening’s narrative.
Narrative is defined by the way in which a story is told in both fictional and non fictional texts. Todorov described narrative as always having a disruption throughout: "disruption is always figured literally- as physical force." In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
Todorov's theory of narrative focuses on equilibrium, where when the narrative is negatively disrupted, it is a disequilibrium, which is ultimately restored by the end of the narrative - although the restored equilibrium is not the same as the original.
For our film opening, we decided to challenge Todorov's narrative theory in Untamed by making the disequilibrium take place at the beginning, instead of the positive equilibrium, as described by Todorov. We disregarded Todorov's theory in order to create a message of family conflict.
Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites, which are reflected by a culture, is another narrative theorist which we applied to Untamed throughout the narrative. Within the narrative of untamed, we used a multitude of binary opposites. Some which we used were: youth and maturity, drunken and sobriety, mother and daughter, and the use of indoor and outdoor settings. After studying Strauss’s theory of binary opposites in the research stages prior to creating our film opening, we found this theory to be very effective for a film opening in order to create a gripping and interesting narrative. Therefore, we created these binary opposites deliberately to create meaning and a message in our narrative. The opposite of the conflicting relationship between the mature mother, Carol, and the unruly teenager, Aubrey was to create a message of disconnect within a family system and to create empathy from the audience for Aubrey not being understood by her mother or family.
Furthermore, we studied Propp’s theory of Stock characters, which we decided to not use in our film opening, Untamed. We subverted from Propp by creating characters which are not usually seen within mainstream, broadcasted films and productions. We purposefully made Aubrey a non-stereotypical female character. A stereotypical female teenage character would be portrayed as feminine and proper, as well as submissive and one who does not stand up for themselves due to being the female gender. We subverted from this stereotype by making Aubrey a female “baddie” who would typically be portrayed by a more masculine figure. Aubrey was not feminine, exemplified by her drunkenness, rugged clothing and outspoken nature. We additionally made Carol’s character subvert from Propp’s theory. A mature female who is also a mother is portrayed by films as caring and sometimes submissive to the youth/ their children. We decided to make Carol a female authority figure instead of the usual stereotypes. This was exemplified by Carol confronting her daughter harshly and being clear of her discontent of her daughter, Aubrey, going against her.
We decided to create these characters through subverting Propps stock character theory in order to create a highly interesting narrative.
Linking to the last point, to create an interesting narrative we used Barthes theory of Enigma Coding. Enigma coding creates a sense of mystery from the audience, and inspires their questions of ‘what happens next?’ – thus, making the narrative more gripping. Some enquiries from our film opening of Untamed are why is Aubrey drunk? Why does Carol not understand and accept her daughter? Why is Aubrey running away and where to? Why does Carol not stop her daughter from running away?
We deliberately left the film opening on a cliff hanger by using Barthes Enigma Coding in order to make the narrative interesting – and as it is a film opening, to make the audience have a desire to continue watching.
In conclusion, from our research of the main theories of narrative, we concluded that some were more useful for our film opening than others. The least applicable was Propp’s stock characters theory, whereas the most applicable to our film opening was Levi Strauss’s theory of Binary Opposites. We challenged some theories and embraced others by using them contently within our film opening’s narrative.
1B Genre Essay
Apply the concept of genre to one of your productions.
Genre as a concept which was teen drama in our AS film opening coursework. Genre is a style or category of which a production allots itself into. Neale describes genre as "instances of repetition and difference."
Our film opening's genre was a teen drama. Teen drama's typical conventions are: being set in a home or school location where cliques are prevalent, having stereotypical character types such as nerds, cheerleaders, jocks. There are usually teen issues, including peer pressure, wanting to leave the hometown, or being an outcast in a group of friends or family.
In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
Chandler describes the conventional differences between genres being based on the notion which some particular conventions are constituted and formed that are shared by the texts which belong to them. He further states that every genre positions the audience and those involved in the production in that genre - as a reader or writer, story teller or listener, etc. Each position allows different possibilities for response. In each text there are assumptions about the ideal audience member, such as their attitudes towards certain subjects, their age, class, gender and ethnicity.
Chandler also describes that other pleasures come from sharing our experiences of genre with others in an 'interpretive community' which can be characterised with its familiarity of certain genres.
A second theorist is Neale. Neale declares the theory of genres being instances of repetition and difference, and that difference is "absolutely essential to the economy of genre", that there would be no pleasure without difference. Implying, repetition alone would not attract an audience. He argues Hollywood's success originates from the regime of guaranteeing meanings and pleasures for audiences, and to disregard the economic risks of film production by providing cognitive collateral against innovation and difference.
Neale also describes genre as being constituted by "specific systems of expectations and hypothesis which spectators bring with them to the cinema and which interact with films themselves during the course of the viewing process."
Our production of Untamed, we both challenged and conformed to the conventions of the genre of a teen drama. We conformed to the conventions by making the setting be at the teenager's house, by having family conflict and being treated as an outcast, and involving a romantic love interest.
We challenged the teen drama conventions by using a gay relationship as the love interest, not focusing on cliques/ friendship groups, and not being set in a high school location.
In conclusion, our group has participated in a significant amount of learning about genre and how to apply it to our own productions. The learning of media conventions was beneficial to know how to construct our own productions and make it more realistic.
Genre as a concept which was teen drama in our AS film opening coursework. Genre is a style or category of which a production allots itself into. Neale describes genre as "instances of repetition and difference."
Our film opening's genre was a teen drama. Teen drama's typical conventions are: being set in a home or school location where cliques are prevalent, having stereotypical character types such as nerds, cheerleaders, jocks. There are usually teen issues, including peer pressure, wanting to leave the hometown, or being an outcast in a group of friends or family.
In AS, our coursework production was a film opening called Untamed. This was a in the genre of teen drama which focused on the disruptive relationship between a teenage girl, Aubrey, and her mother, Carol, who did not understand Aubrey's rebellious teenage characteristics. The film opening begins with Aubrey drunkenly stumbling into the house, then arguing with Carol about where Aubrey has been. Aubrey stands up to Carol, then the film opening ends with Aubrey running away from home in the night.
Chandler describes the conventional differences between genres being based on the notion which some particular conventions are constituted and formed that are shared by the texts which belong to them. He further states that every genre positions the audience and those involved in the production in that genre - as a reader or writer, story teller or listener, etc. Each position allows different possibilities for response. In each text there are assumptions about the ideal audience member, such as their attitudes towards certain subjects, their age, class, gender and ethnicity.
Chandler also describes that other pleasures come from sharing our experiences of genre with others in an 'interpretive community' which can be characterised with its familiarity of certain genres.
A second theorist is Neale. Neale declares the theory of genres being instances of repetition and difference, and that difference is "absolutely essential to the economy of genre", that there would be no pleasure without difference. Implying, repetition alone would not attract an audience. He argues Hollywood's success originates from the regime of guaranteeing meanings and pleasures for audiences, and to disregard the economic risks of film production by providing cognitive collateral against innovation and difference.
Neale also describes genre as being constituted by "specific systems of expectations and hypothesis which spectators bring with them to the cinema and which interact with films themselves during the course of the viewing process."
Our production of Untamed, we both challenged and conformed to the conventions of the genre of a teen drama. We conformed to the conventions by making the setting be at the teenager's house, by having family conflict and being treated as an outcast, and involving a romantic love interest.
We challenged the teen drama conventions by using a gay relationship as the love interest, not focusing on cliques/ friendship groups, and not being set in a high school location.
In conclusion, our group has participated in a significant amount of learning about genre and how to apply it to our own productions. The learning of media conventions was beneficial to know how to construct our own productions and make it more realistic.
1B Audience Essay
Apply the concept of Audience to one of your productions.
The concept of audience is defined by a group of people who observe and attend to a production. Audience can be narrowed down into certain target audiences, varying from age group, gender and the audience’s interests and dislikes. The production is then broken down by the audience using the effects model, the uses and gratifications model, and the reception theory.
For A2, we created a music video. Our music video was focused on one female artist, who we named Nova. The genre was pop/ R&B, therefore we made the music video colourful and focused on Nova and her dancing – the video was a performance video which did not have a narrative.
We had planned this video with audience as a main priority for the designing process. We did this in order to have a strong correlation between the video and the target audience. Our target audience for the music video was young teenagers to young adults (aged 12 – 24).
There are three main theories which covers what happens, why and how audience consume texts.
The audience theory of the Effects model states the audience is very straightforwardly modelled, in the fact that they will replicate the behaviours which they observe through productions. The effects model is exemplified by Bandura’s study of the Bobo doll, of which children who observed an adult hitting the doll, would then imitate that aggressive behaviour. Thus, suggesting the audience of a production will imitate what they observe.
Similarly, the Hypodermic model is a theory of audience which suggests media can influence the audience powerfully and directly through ‘injecting’ them with messages which trigger the desired response (hence the nickname “hypodermic needle”). It states the audience is powerless from resisting media messages due to there being no other source of opposing information at hand.
We then studied the Uses and Gratifications model during the research stage of our production. This study explains the functions of media across society, and the main assumption of this study is that the audience seek media in order to satisfy individual requirements. It explains how individuals use communication to gratify their needs, discerns motives for media use, and identifies the positive and negative media use consequences.
Finally, we studied Hall’s Reception theory which states media texts are both encoded, by messages being encoded into the media, and decoded by the audience decoding these encoded messages. However, during the decoding stages, the audience may decode the messages differently than the producer’s original intentions. This theory states the audience is allotted into one of three positions upon decoding of a text. Firstly, is Preferred Reading: this is when the audience decodes the media to how the producer desires, which mostly happens when the messages are clear and the reader is in the target audience. Secondly, is Negotiated Reading. This is a compromise interpretation of which the audience accepts the media’s views, but also has other views which are opposing. Lastly, is Oppositional reading, which is when the audience completely rejects the media’s encoded messages, and will create their own reading of the text. This takes place when a media contains controversial topic, or if the narrative is complexed and difficult to follow along to. Additionally, if the audience has a different culture/ background than the proposed target audience for the media.
As a group, we targeted our audience throughout the whole process of our production. As our target audience was 12 – 24 year olds, we researched into the current pop culture likes and dislikes of people of this age range – which we used in order to create the main conventions of our music video. These conventions were the use of bright colours, a focus on dancing, and using current popular outfit trends. The audience responded preferably to this, as in the target audience feedback, there were many positive comments on these attributes to the video.
The audience feedback tool we used was an online website called Survey Monkey. This allowed us to create our own survey and instantly email it to the desired recipients. This digital convenience permitted us to have a larger sample for the audience feedback – allowing a more precise and majoritive view of our production.
In conclusion, the research into audience theorists, conventions and feedback allowed us to create a production that was far more precisely corresponding to our target audience. This meant that our final production was successful in terms of audience.
The concept of audience is defined by a group of people who observe and attend to a production. Audience can be narrowed down into certain target audiences, varying from age group, gender and the audience’s interests and dislikes. The production is then broken down by the audience using the effects model, the uses and gratifications model, and the reception theory.
For A2, we created a music video. Our music video was focused on one female artist, who we named Nova. The genre was pop/ R&B, therefore we made the music video colourful and focused on Nova and her dancing – the video was a performance video which did not have a narrative.
We had planned this video with audience as a main priority for the designing process. We did this in order to have a strong correlation between the video and the target audience. Our target audience for the music video was young teenagers to young adults (aged 12 – 24).
There are three main theories which covers what happens, why and how audience consume texts.
The audience theory of the Effects model states the audience is very straightforwardly modelled, in the fact that they will replicate the behaviours which they observe through productions. The effects model is exemplified by Bandura’s study of the Bobo doll, of which children who observed an adult hitting the doll, would then imitate that aggressive behaviour. Thus, suggesting the audience of a production will imitate what they observe.
Similarly, the Hypodermic model is a theory of audience which suggests media can influence the audience powerfully and directly through ‘injecting’ them with messages which trigger the desired response (hence the nickname “hypodermic needle”). It states the audience is powerless from resisting media messages due to there being no other source of opposing information at hand.
We then studied the Uses and Gratifications model during the research stage of our production. This study explains the functions of media across society, and the main assumption of this study is that the audience seek media in order to satisfy individual requirements. It explains how individuals use communication to gratify their needs, discerns motives for media use, and identifies the positive and negative media use consequences.
Finally, we studied Hall’s Reception theory which states media texts are both encoded, by messages being encoded into the media, and decoded by the audience decoding these encoded messages. However, during the decoding stages, the audience may decode the messages differently than the producer’s original intentions. This theory states the audience is allotted into one of three positions upon decoding of a text. Firstly, is Preferred Reading: this is when the audience decodes the media to how the producer desires, which mostly happens when the messages are clear and the reader is in the target audience. Secondly, is Negotiated Reading. This is a compromise interpretation of which the audience accepts the media’s views, but also has other views which are opposing. Lastly, is Oppositional reading, which is when the audience completely rejects the media’s encoded messages, and will create their own reading of the text. This takes place when a media contains controversial topic, or if the narrative is complexed and difficult to follow along to. Additionally, if the audience has a different culture/ background than the proposed target audience for the media.
As a group, we targeted our audience throughout the whole process of our production. As our target audience was 12 – 24 year olds, we researched into the current pop culture likes and dislikes of people of this age range – which we used in order to create the main conventions of our music video. These conventions were the use of bright colours, a focus on dancing, and using current popular outfit trends. The audience responded preferably to this, as in the target audience feedback, there were many positive comments on these attributes to the video.
The audience feedback tool we used was an online website called Survey Monkey. This allowed us to create our own survey and instantly email it to the desired recipients. This digital convenience permitted us to have a larger sample for the audience feedback – allowing a more precise and majoritive view of our production.
In conclusion, the research into audience theorists, conventions and feedback allowed us to create a production that was far more precisely corresponding to our target audience. This meant that our final production was successful in terms of audience.
1B Audience Plan
Audience
Why do audiences choose to consume certain texts?
How do audience consume texts?
What happens when they consume texts? (Effect)
Audience theories:
- Effects model/ Hypodermic model
Effects model = Bobo Doll. Audience replicates what they consume
Hypodermic model = Hypodermic needle injects information into the consumer.
- Uses and Gratifications model
How audience consumes and uses the texts.
Personal Identification
Information
Entertainment
Social Interaction - discussing film after watching
- Reception Theory
How the audience receives media.
Decoding/ encoding
Preferred reading - Accepting the media, Negotiated reading - accept some aspects of media and disagree with others, Oppositional reading - Do not accept the media
How did we target our audience and how did they respond?
Audience feedback/ research: digital impact (survey monkey etc)
Apply models.
1B
1b -
select one theory and media production (discuss prelims and other ancillary texts) - film opening or music video & evaluate it for:
select one theory and media production (discuss prelims and other ancillary texts) - film opening or music video & evaluate it for:
- Genre: DISTINCT
- Narrative: Todorov, Barthes, Levi Strauss
- Representation: DR CAGES
- Audience: Uses and Gratifications, Effects theory, Encoding/ Decoding
- Media Language: Any Theorist - camera, editing, mise en scen, sound
Basic Essay Structure:
Intro: Define concept, add quote from theorist.
Outline the production (FO or MV)
Only use 2 theorists.
Para 1: use theorists, describe key features of the concept
Para 2: apply concept, closely reference the product. Give other examples to show concept
Para 3: ways ideas work to three areas (production, distribution, exchange) and how were ideas challenged
Conclusion
Research and Planning Essay
In your experience how has your research and planning developed through creating your productions?
Over the two year course of AS and A2, our tasks included a film opening in AS and a music video in A2. The research and planning stage for both AS and A2 were similar in the fact of the actual tasks which we completed. Yet, in A2 as a group we went into more depth and detail, over all making it a more successful year of research and planning.
In AS for the Film Opening, for the research stage we conducted research into the genre in order to create a successful teen drama film. We researched into titles, such as using the website art of the title in order to achieve the desired look and timings for the typical teen drama. We researched into film genre conventions through research of actual films and he directors comments. A practise edit we did was replicating the opening titles of the film Juno in order to achieve the correct timings of shots and correct imagery/ conventions for the genre.
Another research task we did was creating a survey of questions suited to our genre and film opening, and sent it to the target audience to gain some feedback. As this feedback was specifically suited to the video and genre, it was more valuable and we were able to apply this to the video in the research stage. This was a large influence as we were able to have an insight into our target audiences opinions and how to shape our video to it, making the target audience more valid and reliable.
Whereas in A2, we conducted similar research - yet in more depth. We researched into the genre of pop and R&B music videos. We found from artists like SZA and Rihanna that R&B music videos typically have a narrative to the video and use of abstract imagery or meaning to the video. Pop music videos, like Katy Perry's and Dua Lipa were usually more performance based with straight shots and cuts. We wrote many pieces of work about the comparison of music videos from these genres in order for us to have the highest knowledge possible of our music genre.
For the other ancillary tasks of the Digipak and website, we found the pop and R&B genre conventions were similar in the fact that they both used bright colours and more the digipaks were more photoshoot based.
Some inspiration for our music video were Bruno Mars's Uptown Funk music video which was directed by Duddy, also Katy Perry's California Gurls video, which was directed by Cullen - both very respected and creative music video directors.
We directed multiple questionnaires and surveys for the research stage of our music video creation - including for the name of the artist, album title, and general feedback for the video. This allowed us to learn more about our target audience's views and letting them influence our work accordingly to make the video more fitting to them. The audience feedback was generally positive, apart from the negative comments stating some of the ancillary tasks being not synergetic enough, or pointing out certain shots in the video which needed tweaking. We applied all of the valuable feedback to our ancillary tasks.
In the planning stage for AS, we used initial ideas which we documented in the story board we made previous to filming. We knew we wanted to create a teen drama film about a rebellious girl arguing with her mother. We then built on this idea by planning costume and prop lists, more in depth plans for each shot. We organised our time using a template for a shooting schedule - where we could lay out clearly what times all four of our group were free to film and or work together. This was beneficial as we were more productive with our time and for getting our work done efficiently. The planning stage did help in our production as we had each shot planned in advance and knew what props and costume to bring, as well as when we could film and work together, making the overall filming and creating process much more professional and effective.
For the A2 planning stage, we were more depthful for the music video. We knew how important planning was from the film opening in AS, therefore we definitely prioritised it. We made pitches for our top three potential songs and what we would do with each for the video, which we presented to our class in order to get an educated decision for the final song choice and proposed music video. We documented our original/ initial ideas with examples of images and inspiring clips from real music videos. We organised ourselves similarly to AS with the same layouts for shooting schedules and story boards, and then our own prop and costume lists. Similarly to AS, the planning stage was effective as we were able to use our time concisely and productively - managing to keep to all the deadlines that were set by our teachers as we had set specific times for each task (such as filming, editing, and allocating certain amount of time and mini deadlines for blog posts). Thus, planning did help in the production stage. Also, our knowledge of the importance of research and planning from the AS tasks allowed us to have an improved second production in A2 - as we knew to prioritise these processes.
The digital technology that we used in both the research and planning stages were the use of blogger to house all of the actual research and planning, such as inspirational music videos and official documents like the risk assessment and the shooting schedule. We used YouTube in order to embed the inspiring videos onto blogger. We also used iMessage as a group in order to stay in contact as a group to ensure we were using our time constructively and being coherent to the deadlines. Adobe Premiere Pro was used to create the prelims, practise edits and the steal-o-matic for A2. Similarly to YouTube, we used Google Image Search to retrieve inspiration for the digipak and posters to put on the blog.
In conclusion, the research and planning stages were beneficial in order to create an overall successful final product. We learned from these processes the importance of both research and planning, as they both improved the final product as we knew exactly what look and final aim we were striving for.
Over the two year course of AS and A2, our tasks included a film opening in AS and a music video in A2. The research and planning stage for both AS and A2 were similar in the fact of the actual tasks which we completed. Yet, in A2 as a group we went into more depth and detail, over all making it a more successful year of research and planning.
In AS for the Film Opening, for the research stage we conducted research into the genre in order to create a successful teen drama film. We researched into titles, such as using the website art of the title in order to achieve the desired look and timings for the typical teen drama. We researched into film genre conventions through research of actual films and he directors comments. A practise edit we did was replicating the opening titles of the film Juno in order to achieve the correct timings of shots and correct imagery/ conventions for the genre.
Another research task we did was creating a survey of questions suited to our genre and film opening, and sent it to the target audience to gain some feedback. As this feedback was specifically suited to the video and genre, it was more valuable and we were able to apply this to the video in the research stage. This was a large influence as we were able to have an insight into our target audiences opinions and how to shape our video to it, making the target audience more valid and reliable.
Whereas in A2, we conducted similar research - yet in more depth. We researched into the genre of pop and R&B music videos. We found from artists like SZA and Rihanna that R&B music videos typically have a narrative to the video and use of abstract imagery or meaning to the video. Pop music videos, like Katy Perry's and Dua Lipa were usually more performance based with straight shots and cuts. We wrote many pieces of work about the comparison of music videos from these genres in order for us to have the highest knowledge possible of our music genre.
For the other ancillary tasks of the Digipak and website, we found the pop and R&B genre conventions were similar in the fact that they both used bright colours and more the digipaks were more photoshoot based.
Some inspiration for our music video were Bruno Mars's Uptown Funk music video which was directed by Duddy, also Katy Perry's California Gurls video, which was directed by Cullen - both very respected and creative music video directors.
We directed multiple questionnaires and surveys for the research stage of our music video creation - including for the name of the artist, album title, and general feedback for the video. This allowed us to learn more about our target audience's views and letting them influence our work accordingly to make the video more fitting to them. The audience feedback was generally positive, apart from the negative comments stating some of the ancillary tasks being not synergetic enough, or pointing out certain shots in the video which needed tweaking. We applied all of the valuable feedback to our ancillary tasks.
In the planning stage for AS, we used initial ideas which we documented in the story board we made previous to filming. We knew we wanted to create a teen drama film about a rebellious girl arguing with her mother. We then built on this idea by planning costume and prop lists, more in depth plans for each shot. We organised our time using a template for a shooting schedule - where we could lay out clearly what times all four of our group were free to film and or work together. This was beneficial as we were more productive with our time and for getting our work done efficiently. The planning stage did help in our production as we had each shot planned in advance and knew what props and costume to bring, as well as when we could film and work together, making the overall filming and creating process much more professional and effective.
For the A2 planning stage, we were more depthful for the music video. We knew how important planning was from the film opening in AS, therefore we definitely prioritised it. We made pitches for our top three potential songs and what we would do with each for the video, which we presented to our class in order to get an educated decision for the final song choice and proposed music video. We documented our original/ initial ideas with examples of images and inspiring clips from real music videos. We organised ourselves similarly to AS with the same layouts for shooting schedules and story boards, and then our own prop and costume lists. Similarly to AS, the planning stage was effective as we were able to use our time concisely and productively - managing to keep to all the deadlines that were set by our teachers as we had set specific times for each task (such as filming, editing, and allocating certain amount of time and mini deadlines for blog posts). Thus, planning did help in the production stage. Also, our knowledge of the importance of research and planning from the AS tasks allowed us to have an improved second production in A2 - as we knew to prioritise these processes.
The digital technology that we used in both the research and planning stages were the use of blogger to house all of the actual research and planning, such as inspirational music videos and official documents like the risk assessment and the shooting schedule. We used YouTube in order to embed the inspiring videos onto blogger. We also used iMessage as a group in order to stay in contact as a group to ensure we were using our time constructively and being coherent to the deadlines. Adobe Premiere Pro was used to create the prelims, practise edits and the steal-o-matic for A2. Similarly to YouTube, we used Google Image Search to retrieve inspiration for the digipak and posters to put on the blog.
In conclusion, the research and planning stages were beneficial in order to create an overall successful final product. We learned from these processes the importance of both research and planning, as they both improved the final product as we knew exactly what look and final aim we were striving for.
Research and Planning plan
In your experience how has your research and planning developed through creating your productions?
Intro
Explain tasks over two years - FO & MV. Briefly explain the research and planning stage.
AS & A2
Research
write about research of teen drama genre
genre conventions
inspiring directors
research of target audiences- surveys, questionnaires etc
how research of institutions influenced production of work.
Audience feedback - what found out, how used it/ influence on production work
Video, digipak, website
Planning
How did we plan the FO - initial ideas, shooting schedules, costume & props, story board, time organisation?
How effective was the planning stage? Did it help production?
Video, digipak, website
Did planning first production help on/ improve second production
How did we use digital tech in research and planning?
Conclusion
Bring together research and planning and answer q. What have we learned from the process?
How has tech allowed us to develop other skills?
Intro
Explain tasks over two years - FO & MV. Briefly explain the research and planning stage.
AS & A2
Research
write about research of teen drama genre
genre conventions
inspiring directors
research of target audiences- surveys, questionnaires etc
how research of institutions influenced production of work.
Audience feedback - what found out, how used it/ influence on production work
Video, digipak, website
Planning
How did we plan the FO - initial ideas, shooting schedules, costume & props, story board, time organisation?
How effective was the planning stage? Did it help production?
Video, digipak, website
Did planning first production help on/ improve second production
How did we use digital tech in research and planning?
Conclusion
Bring together research and planning and answer q. What have we learned from the process?
How has tech allowed us to develop other skills?
Conventions of Real Media Texts Essay
In your experience, how has your understanding of real conventions developed through creating your productions?
In AS, we created a film opening called Untamed which was in the genre of a teen drama. For this film opening, we put a lot of research into into the conventions of this genre - as we did for A2 for the music video. This music video's song (NAO Nostalgia) was in the genre pop/ R&B. We researched into these genres conventions using Google search, YouTube and other streaming sites.
Our main task in AS was to create a film opening. The genre of our film opening, Untamed, was a teen drama. We researched into our chosen film genre by watching other movies within that genre - such as Mean Girls, Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Juno, and Blue is the Warmest Colour. These films all have one protagonist who has a tragic/ dramatic event or story line which occurs. We took notes on these films of how to make the actor act, the types of music to use, the locations/ props and the narrative. We then made the protagonist act rebelliously, used indie music, a house setting, and made the protagonist dress in ragged indie clothing. To create our promotional website for the film, we researched into other indie/ teen drama film websites, such as Perks of Being a Wallflower one. We used this as a template for our website, ensuring that we included all of the conventions of this teen drama website.
The concept of genre is very important for a film/ film opening. As our Film was a teen drama, we ensured to use all the conventions - such as being set at a high school, a teenage romance, teenage rebellion against the mother/ family. We made the film mainstream by using these conventions.
The importance of using the conventions correctly is to ensure the film will appeal to the target audience of teen dramas.
However, we did challenge the conventions of a teen drama and subvert in a way- by making the love interest another girl - a gay relationship, which usually is not shown or romanticised in teen dramas. Additionally, we only showed one teen in the film opening - usually teen dramas have a focus on teen friendship groups/ cliques, whereas ours did not.
We created our own institution for the film opening, called Night Time Productions. We based this off of other independent film's institutions - such as Warner Independent Pictures which has produced popular independent films, like Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.
For the Music Video in A2, our song was identified by both genres of pop and R&B, as the singer (NAO) creates songs of both genres. We researched into the pop genre, by looking at music videos , photoshoots and websites by artists including Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa. We found the typical conventions of a pop music video is the use of bright colours, a performance style video - dancing etc, and one protagonist. We ensured to use all three of these main conventions in our video. Pop photoshoots were very commercial, in comparison to our research into R&B photoshoots, which were more artistic and abstract. Pop websites and R&B websites tended to be the same layout, apart from different colour schemes and fonts.
Whereas when we researched into the R&B genre, using musicians such as SZA and Rihanna, we found the music video conventions were more of a narrative, abstract imagery with use of lighting and props. We used conventions of both pop and R&B in our music video and other ancillary texts that we found in our research.
The websites that influenced us the most were the band Paramore's, and the artist FKA Twigs's. We took inspiration from them by using a similar navigation bar and layout. The digipak inspiration was from the artist SZA, Solange, Rihanna and Dua Lipa. We used Rihannas rose and floral theme from her Loud digipak, and used similar posing and colour schemes from SZA's Ctrl album.
However, we did challenge some conventions of our pop and R&B genres - such as making the video all performance, which is a lot more fitting to the pop genre, but not to R&B which is more abstract and conceptual. Additionally, in the digipak, pop conventions are usually a photoshoot of the actual artist, whereas we went down a more R&B route of more abstract photos rather than just commercial images of the artist.
In conclusion, as a group we learned the majority of what we applied to our own construction from real media conventions. This research was extremely beneficial as we could see actual conventions of of our genres which allowed us to create a more realistic set of constructions/ ancillary tasks.
In AS, we created a film opening called Untamed which was in the genre of a teen drama. For this film opening, we put a lot of research into into the conventions of this genre - as we did for A2 for the music video. This music video's song (NAO Nostalgia) was in the genre pop/ R&B. We researched into these genres conventions using Google search, YouTube and other streaming sites.
Our main task in AS was to create a film opening. The genre of our film opening, Untamed, was a teen drama. We researched into our chosen film genre by watching other movies within that genre - such as Mean Girls, Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Juno, and Blue is the Warmest Colour. These films all have one protagonist who has a tragic/ dramatic event or story line which occurs. We took notes on these films of how to make the actor act, the types of music to use, the locations/ props and the narrative. We then made the protagonist act rebelliously, used indie music, a house setting, and made the protagonist dress in ragged indie clothing. To create our promotional website for the film, we researched into other indie/ teen drama film websites, such as Perks of Being a Wallflower one. We used this as a template for our website, ensuring that we included all of the conventions of this teen drama website.
The concept of genre is very important for a film/ film opening. As our Film was a teen drama, we ensured to use all the conventions - such as being set at a high school, a teenage romance, teenage rebellion against the mother/ family. We made the film mainstream by using these conventions.
The importance of using the conventions correctly is to ensure the film will appeal to the target audience of teen dramas.
However, we did challenge the conventions of a teen drama and subvert in a way- by making the love interest another girl - a gay relationship, which usually is not shown or romanticised in teen dramas. Additionally, we only showed one teen in the film opening - usually teen dramas have a focus on teen friendship groups/ cliques, whereas ours did not.
We created our own institution for the film opening, called Night Time Productions. We based this off of other independent film's institutions - such as Warner Independent Pictures which has produced popular independent films, like Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.
For the Music Video in A2, our song was identified by both genres of pop and R&B, as the singer (NAO) creates songs of both genres. We researched into the pop genre, by looking at music videos , photoshoots and websites by artists including Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa. We found the typical conventions of a pop music video is the use of bright colours, a performance style video - dancing etc, and one protagonist. We ensured to use all three of these main conventions in our video. Pop photoshoots were very commercial, in comparison to our research into R&B photoshoots, which were more artistic and abstract. Pop websites and R&B websites tended to be the same layout, apart from different colour schemes and fonts.
Whereas when we researched into the R&B genre, using musicians such as SZA and Rihanna, we found the music video conventions were more of a narrative, abstract imagery with use of lighting and props. We used conventions of both pop and R&B in our music video and other ancillary texts that we found in our research.
The websites that influenced us the most were the band Paramore's, and the artist FKA Twigs's. We took inspiration from them by using a similar navigation bar and layout. The digipak inspiration was from the artist SZA, Solange, Rihanna and Dua Lipa. We used Rihannas rose and floral theme from her Loud digipak, and used similar posing and colour schemes from SZA's Ctrl album.
However, we did challenge some conventions of our pop and R&B genres - such as making the video all performance, which is a lot more fitting to the pop genre, but not to R&B which is more abstract and conceptual. Additionally, in the digipak, pop conventions are usually a photoshoot of the actual artist, whereas we went down a more R&B route of more abstract photos rather than just commercial images of the artist.
In conclusion, as a group we learned the majority of what we applied to our own construction from real media conventions. This research was extremely beneficial as we could see actual conventions of of our genres which allowed us to create a more realistic set of constructions/ ancillary tasks.
1A conventions from real media texts plan
In your experience, how has your understanding of real conventions developed through creating your productions?
use DISTINCT
intro: film opening in AS, music video A2
Film opening
what websites, films you looked at
concept of genre and why it's important
Talk about institutions - MV/ FO and production (indie, night time productions)
How we made it mainstream (conventions etc)
research into media texts, and what we learned about our genre - examples from real films. influence from certain directors etc.
FO needed type of enigma codes - be catching. use real egs from FO
did we challenge genre conventions? conforming and subverting
Music video
research into genre - identify what our genre is and the conventions of it
performance, narrative or concept? how we did this
research into website and digipak - which influenced us
did we challenge conventions
to what extent did we use digital tech
conclusion
what did we learn from using real media conventions?
use DISTINCT
intro: film opening in AS, music video A2
Film opening
what websites, films you looked at
concept of genre and why it's important
Talk about institutions - MV/ FO and production (indie, night time productions)
How we made it mainstream (conventions etc)
research into media texts, and what we learned about our genre - examples from real films. influence from certain directors etc.
FO needed type of enigma codes - be catching. use real egs from FO
did we challenge genre conventions? conforming and subverting
Music video
research into genre - identify what our genre is and the conventions of it
performance, narrative or concept? how we did this
research into website and digipak - which influenced us
did we challenge conventions
to what extent did we use digital tech
conclusion
what did we learn from using real media conventions?
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